Exhibitions Now On
Floating Life: Documentary Photography in Ren Jian, 1985–1989
Founded by writer Chen Ying-chen, the magazine Ren Jian (人間) published 47 issues from November 1985 to September 1989. During Taiwan's gradual democratization, it generated social concern and influence through visual expression, and gained attention for raising social, political, and ethnic issues. However, compared to the many studies on its written reports, the photography that defined the magazine's visual style has long been overlooked. In fact, the text and images in Ren Jian complement each other: the text narrates the depth of the images, while the images reinforce the power of the text. With nearly at least one image per page, it opened a new chapter in Taiwanese documentary photography.
This exhibition, curated by Su Ying-lung and French photography historian Michel Frizot, focuses on the photographic images of Ren Jian. By combing through and distilling 5,497 images from the 47 issues, it presents 11 of the 196 photographers, and uses interview videos to show how they came into contact with photography, became photojournalists, discovered subjects, practiced feature reporting, and how text and images related to each other in Ren Jian. Through these individual images selected from the reports, we understand the compassion contained in the photographs, and their stylistic originality and diversity. At the same time, the digital output of the magazine reports not only re-contextualizes the exhibited images within the original context of Ren Jian but also compensates for the loss of original negatives.
“Floating Life: Documentary Photography in Ren Jian, 1985–1989” truly reflects the professionalism and dedication of the photographers, bringing back to light their journeys into dangerous places to record truth, pain, or hope. It is hoped that this exhibition will revive the lives of these pioneers of documentary photography, once overlooked and perhaps forgotten, in this era. Even though darkness has never completely disappeared along the way, the lights of the human world have always shone softly.
This exhibition, curated by Su Ying-lung and French photography historian Michel Frizot, focuses on the photographic images of Ren Jian. By combing through and distilling 5,497 images from the 47 issues, it presents 11 of the 196 photographers, and uses interview videos to show how they came into contact with photography, became photojournalists, discovered subjects, practiced feature reporting, and how text and images related to each other in Ren Jian. Through these individual images selected from the reports, we understand the compassion contained in the photographs, and their stylistic originality and diversity. At the same time, the digital output of the magazine reports not only re-contextualizes the exhibited images within the original context of Ren Jian but also compensates for the loss of original negatives.
“Floating Life: Documentary Photography in Ren Jian, 1985–1989” truly reflects the professionalism and dedication of the photographers, bringing back to light their journeys into dangerous places to record truth, pain, or hope. It is hoped that this exhibition will revive the lives of these pioneers of documentary photography, once overlooked and perhaps forgotten, in this era. Even though darkness has never completely disappeared along the way, the lights of the human world have always shone softly.
Event Details
- 2026-05-23 — Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts · 優惠票+45;全票+90